SPARTA, Ky. — Brad Keselowski had a track-record speed of 188.791 mph in a Ford to win the pole for Saturday night’s NASCAR race at Kentucky Speedway.
A day in which 23 drivers broke Dale Earnhardt’s year-old mark of 183.636 mph in the first round of knockout qualifying alone ended with the 2012 winner of the 400-mile race shattering it by more than 5 mph.
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Sprint Cup Up Next
WHAT: Quaker State 400, presented by Advance Auto Parts
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Kentucky Speedway
TELEVISION: TNT
Keselowski overtook Penske Racing teammate Joey Logano, who turned a lap of 187.175 after leading the first two rounds.
Jeff Gordon will start third in a Chevy, salvaging a session in which Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn’t make it past the first round. Denny Hamlin was fourth in a Toyota.
NATIONWIDE: Kevin Harvick passed Kyle Busch on the final restart and held off Brad Keselowski to win the NASCAR Nationwide Series race Friday night at Kentucky Speedway.
After failing to pass Busch on an earlier restart, Harvick succeeded with another chance on Lap 196.
His Chevy gained enough space from Keselowski, who rallied from 17th following a pass-through penalty with 50 laps left to finish second in a Ford.
Before the pit road speeding penalty, Keselowski seemed headed for a second straight victory at the track in leading 138 laps.
Harvick led twice for 14 laps. He has two series victories this season and 42 in 309 career starts. He also won at the track in 2001.
Busch was third, and Paul Menard fourth.
Regan Smith’s late accident left him 28th and allowed Elliott Sadler to take a four-point lead over rookie Chase Elliott in the season standings.
NASCAR DRIVERS won’t be shocked if Kentucky Speedway’s fourth Sprint Cup Series race yields a repeat winner or new face spraying champagne in Victory Lane.
Either scenario could happen with past winners Kyle Bush and Brad Keselowski trying to strengthen their bids for more success in Saturday night’s 400-miler by running companion series races this weekend.
Defending race champion Matt Kenseth, meanwhile, seeks to repeat the magic and earn his first win this season.
Kenseth said Friday he isn’t sure if past success carries over at a track like Kentucky, but “it certainly gives you more confidence when you come back and you’ve won somewhere.”
Then there is reigning series champion Jimmie Johnson, points leader Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch and Martin Truex Jr., who have posted multiple top 10s on the 1.5-mile-track and aim to finally close the deal. All are hungry to find the right setup, timing and luck to solve the tough, bumpy track.
“I like (Kentucky) because it’s a challenging race track and I like a good challenge,” said Gordon, who was eighth last year.
“Our cars have been good here the last few times, so if I feel like we have a shot at winning I usually like that track.”
Johnson dominated last June’s race, leading 182 laps, and was poised to overtake Kenseth on a late restart before a spin racing four-wide run dropped him from second to ninth.
Kenseth’s went on to his fourth win of the season despite taking fuel only on his last stop.
INDYCAR: The top competition official said Friday that a penalty against Sebastien Bourdais for unsafe driving was overturned because the series did not have enough evidence to show he had done anything wrong.
Bourdais was fined $10,000 and placed on probation following a crash with Justin Wilson in the June 7 race at Texas Motor Speedway.
IndyCar this week reversed the penalty but gave no reason for the change.
Derrick Walker, IndyCar’s president of competition and operations, told The Associated Press on Friday that he overturned the penalty when he personally reviewed the evidence and found there was not enough to show Bourdais had intentionally done anything wrong.
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